Car bike hitch-rack advice?

[Eug]

So I have installed my bolt-on hitch on my Prius 2004 hatchback. It has a 2" receiver but supposedly only rated for 200 lbs, which I believe means it's a Class I rack (which is odd, since most Class I racks are 1.25").

Can I just get a Saris/Thule/Yakima 4-bike rack and put 3 bikes on it? I'm thinking 4 bikes would be pushing it weight wise.

Our mountain bikes are 25-30 lbs, and my road bike is about 20 lbs. I'm thinking 100 lbs of bikes plus the leverage factor is about as high as I can go.

 

[Evadman]

4 bikes weighing 200+ lbs with towframe? heavy bikes. The leverage factor is not an issue. Weight at the hitch point is, which would be the weight of the bikes and the carrier. The hitch is designed to take sheer forces.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Evadman
4 bikes weighing 200+ lbs with towframe? heavy bikes. The leverage factor is not an issue. Weight at the hitch point is, which would be the weight of the bikes and the carrier. The hitch is designed to take sheer forces.

Nah, it'd be 4 bikes weighing 100 lbs, or 3 heavy bikes weighing 100 lbs. Are you sure the leverage doesn't matter? By the 4th bike it's pretty far out from the hitch, so I'm thinking leverage would indeed matter.

I do note that most of the 4-bike racks are supposed to be connected to Class II 300-lb tongue-weight hitches.

BTW, these are pretty expensive bikes. What should I be looking for?

I'm thinking that as long as I can lock the bikes to the rack and the rack to the hitch I'm OK.

 

[Eug]

^

 

[The Stigenator]

a class 1 hitch should mean you have a tounge weight of 200lbs..

I have a class 2 or class 3 on my focus. NOt sure.. I am allowed to tow upto 3500lbs with a tounge weight of 500lbs.

However.. my focus can only tow 1000 lbs with a tounge weight of 200lbs.

 

[Stark]

Sportworks

i have the 2 bike 1 1/4" hitch rack and I'm happy with it. recommended

 

[ScoobMaster]

Hi Eug!

I just bought a hitch rack for my minivan from Overstock.com for about $50.

Linkified Here

Great thing about overstock is the $2.95 shipping!

This is a 3-bike rack. The feature that iinterested me was the ability to clamp it onto my drawbar to carry the bikes while towing my popup camper.